– Mayor
There has been an increase in the quantum and nature of garbage being disposed of and this poses a “tremendous challenge” to the municipality of Georgetown which currently disposes of 250 tonnes of garbage, Mayor Hamilton Green said.
At a press conference on Friday at City Hall, the mayor stated that the challenge of waste disposal that the municipality faced was exaggerated by the “tonnes and tonnes” of old tires and similar waste.
In addition, the mayor stated that communities from outside Georgetown, which are without proper disposal, bring their garbage into the city which is again a tremendous challenge to the municipality. Recalling the time when residents of Princes Street protested against the current dumpsite resulting in a backup of some 30 garbage trucks, the mayor noted that 20 of those trucks were from outside Georgetown.
And while the municipality is doing all it can it cannot do too much without money, he added.
Ugly dumpsite
Meanwhile, the mayor stated that the fires at the Mandela landfill have subsided and commended Director of the Solid Waste Management Department, Hubert Urling and the Guyana Fire Service for their efforts.
While he admitted that it has not been an easy task, Green said he will not go down in record to say that it will not happen again but stressed that measures to deal with future fires have been put in place.
A team of officials and equipment are on site, while Urling and his team remain in contact with the Fire Service.
The Mandela landfill site started to be used in 1993 but recently has been plagued with fires that have shrouded residents in the area with smoke and raised serious health issues.
In an apology to the people who have suffered as a result of what Green called an “ugly site and disgraceful cemetery” he expressed the hope that the site will be closed shortly and will “ease the peril” to citizens around.
Although there was a proposal to have the site fenced and a regime to control litter pickers, the mayor pointed out that a shortage of staff and resources has made it near impossible to manage the site.
Currently work is being done to cover part of the site and according Urling six acres of garbage have to be covered and the cost is estimated at over $40 million. This job had been contracted out.
Meanwhile, in the latter half of last year work was done to cover six acres of garbage also. However it was pointed out that the entire site cannot be closed until the Haag Bosch location opens.
The current site is expected to be closed in favour of the new sanitary landfill site at Haag Bosch east of Eccles, which was supposed to be opened last year. According to the mayor “delays of some kind or another” prevented the opening but he was optimistic that it will be opened by July-August if all goes well.
The Haag Bosch location was selected with the help of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in 2000, according Urling, and work on the landfill site is ongoing. Construction at the new site is being done by BK International and Puran Brothers at the cost of some US$9.7 million.
The constructors are tasked with constructing and operating the Haag Bosch site over a five to nine-year period. The site will be accessed by the Eccles Industrial Estate road and according to Urling, measures will be taken to ensure that trucks taking garbage to the new site will be covered. He noted that the new site is a collection and treatment site.
